“You won’t see Rosie from ‘The Jetsons,’ but you’re going to see more and more robots that help maintain your home. They’ll pick up stuff off the floor, stock your fridge, carry stuff from the car,” said Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot Corp., which makes the Roomba.
As such ‘bots become more sophisticated, they could complicate questions about product liability. Ryan Calo, a fellow with Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society, pointed out in a recent panel discussion at Stanford Law School that the original manufacturer might not always be liable if a robot goes haywire.
“Robots are not just things the manufacturer builds and you go out and use them in a specific way. Robots can often be instructed, they can be programmed, you can have software that is built upon by others,” he said.
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